Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED: To note that the following interests were declared.

Agenda Item: 4. Information Report - Review of Terms of Reference for TLCF; 5. Presentation by BMG Research

Councillor Bob Currie declared personal interests on the above items in that he attended monthly meetings of the Eastcote Lane Tenants’ and Residents’ Association.  He would remain in the room whilst the matters were considered and voted upon.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 50 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting.

Report of the Divisional Director, Housing Services.

An officer introduced a report which set out proposals to review the Terms of Reference (ToR) for Forum.  Members were requested to discuss the proposals within the report.

The officer advised that:

·                    suggestions on the proposals within the tabled document, which was available on the Council’s website, would feed into the discussions at the Resident Conference on 6 April 2011;

·                    any proposals would need to comply with existing Tenant and Resident Associations (TRA) and Harrow Federation of Tenants and Resident Associations (HFTRA) Constitutions;

·                    officers would collate all feedback on the proposals and present it to a future meeting of the Forum and eventually recommended to Cabinet for implementation.

In response to questions, officers advised:

·                    changes to the ToR would allow for residents to set future agendas for TLCF, with the possibility of drafting future reports independently or in conjunction with officers;

·                    the regularity of meetings would be looked into to avoid long gaps between meetings.  Due to the setting of the Housing Revenue Account Budget, it would not be possible to alter the date of certain meetings;

·                    the guillotine procedure applied to all Committees and was established to ensure that meetings concluded at a reasonable time;

·                    voting rights at meetings would only be extended to TRAs that were recognised by the Harrow Federation of Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations;

·                    members of the public had the opportunity to engage at meetings through relevant agenda items;

·                    there was more work to be conducted to monitor the involvement of Housing Association residents on the Forum;

·                    means of increasing the profile of the Forum would be considered to maximise the involvement of residents within the borough.

The Chair of the HFTRA advised that residents within the borough would be made aware of issues through the agendas of their local TRA.  If residents wished to pursue any matters further, additional information, in the form of leaflets or flyers, could be circulated.

RESOLVED:  That the presentation be noted.

Presentation of the Divisional Director, Housing Services.

The Associate Account Director of BMG Research provided a presentation on the results of the Housing Services 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey, which was available on the Council’s website.

Key points highlighted were that:

·                    overall satisfaction for leaseholders had increased by 12% since 2008. Overall satisfaction for tenants had increased by 9% over the same period;

·                    only 10% of tenants had reported issues relating to Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB).  Satisfaction of the support provided by staff in relation to ASB had increased by 17%;

·                    83% of tenants selected repairs and maintenance as being the most important thing to them in relation to the service they received.  This was an area for improvement.  The survey showed that over 21% of tenants felt dissatisfied with their experience in this area.  A positive finding in this area was in relation to the speed with which work was completed and the overall quality of repair work.  These had increased by 7% and 8% respectively.

In response to questions, officers advised that:

·                    there were many aspects which contributed to the improvements within the Housing Service.  One factor may have been a result of the changes in management;

·                    there was a good level of response which improved upon the previous survey conducted in 2008.  Work was carried out to encourage residents to complete the survey, but not all residents would respond;

·                    increases such as 9% on customer satisfaction for Value for Money could not be associated with any errors in collating data;

·                    it could not be confirmed whether those in Sheltered Housing completed their own survey;

·                    the question in the survey relating to the level of satisfaction among tenants with regard to their neighbourhood would be discontinued.

RESOLVED:  That the presentation be noted.